CN1282544C - printer - Google Patents

Abstract

A method is disclosed for conducting solid printing on a tape-shaped recording medium without leaving any unprinted portions on either the sides, leading or trailing ends thereof. A portion of the image-receiving surface of a tape-shaped recording medium of a pre-determined width which is narrower than the full width is used for the actual image-receiving surface, while the other continuous portions are used as dummy image-receiving surfaces. The solid printing action involves solid printing in such a manner that the printing overlaps the edge of the image-receiving surface onto the outer dummy image-receiving surfaces. After solid printing, the center image-receiving surface portion is cut loose from peeling paper, leaving the unnecessary dummy image-receiving surfaces. The image-receiving portion cut loose may be applied to a desired surface, as a piece of printed tape-shaped printing medium solidly printed without unprinted gaps at the edges.

Description

printer

This application is a divisional application of the application No. 0111736.2 filed on March 14, 2001, and the title of the invention is "Printer and method for printing with ink on the ground".

technical field

The invention relates to a printer and a solid ink printing method for spraying ink without gaps on the surface of a tape-shaped recording medium with a certain width by using the printer.

Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a tape-shaped recording medium suitable for the above-mentioned solid ink printing.

Background technique

Various types of inkjet printers are known, and among these printers there is proposed a compact printer that performs color printing on tape-shaped recording media of various colors. The small-sized inkjet printer of this form is owing to can supply from cyan (cyan) color (C), magenta (M) and the ink in the ink storage box of yellow (Y) each color to the inkjet printing head, thereby can print on the strip recording medium print in color.

As a tape-shaped recording medium, by forming an adhesive layer covered with a release paper on the back side, cutting it to a certain length after printing and peeling off the release paper, it can be attached to the desired object as a label superior. Such printers for printing on tape-shaped recording media are called label printers, label word processors, and the like, and they have been commercially available in recent years.

The following problems arise when using an inkjet printer to perform solid ink printing without gaps on the entire surface of a tape-shaped recording medium.

First, when solid ink printing is performed by reciprocating the print head toward the width direction of the tape, visible full printing is performed from end to end in the web direction. However, it is difficult to drive the print head in cooperation with the ends in the web direction to perform correct printing. For this reason, for example, when the printing operation starts after the print head is located at the end of the tape, uninked portions occur at the edge portion in the web direction. On the contrary, when the printing action starts before the print head reaches the end of the tape, the ink droplets ejected from the print head adhere to the paper guide opposite to the print head. When ink droplets adhere to the paper guide, there occurs a defect that the belt it conveys is contaminated with ink droplets.

Then, in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped recording medium, it is also difficult to perform solid printing without gaps on the front and rear ends of the tape. That is, it is as difficult to carry out solid ink printing by the printing head in cooperation with the front end of the conveyed tape-shaped recording medium as the above-mentioned solid ink printing on the entire width of the tape, and the same problems also occur. In addition, the tape-shaped recording medium is used after being cut into predetermined lengths after printing. For this reason, if the rear end of the cut tape-shaped recording medium is also to be printed with solid ink in a visible full print state, it is necessary to transport the tape-shaped recording medium and drive the print head with high precision. In particular, the cut-off position must also be correctly controlled.

Contents of the invention

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems mentioned above and propose a method that can be filled with ink on both ends of the recording medium without gaps, and no uninked parts will occur on the left and right edges of the tape-shaped recording medium. , Moreover, the ejected ink droplets do not adhere to the paper guide or the like, thereby not contaminating the conveyed recording medium.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of solid ink printing, in which there is no solid ink on the front and rear ends of the strip-shaped recording medium sheet with printing edges of a predetermined length obtained after printing. Inked print.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tape-shaped recording medium suitable for achieving the above objects.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, on the image receiving surface of the tape-shaped recording medium of predetermined width, the part narrower than the image receiving surface width is used as the actual image receiving surface, and the other parts are used as the actual image receiving surface. Part is used as a non-image receiving surface. In the actual ink printing operation, desired solid ink printing is performed from the narrow image receiving surface end to the non-image receiving surface portion outside in the web direction. Then, after the solid ink printing, the unnecessary non-image-receiving surface was cut off to obtain a strip-shaped recording medium sheet with printed borders whose ends were solid ink printed without gaps.

That is, in the method for carrying out solid ink printing on the tape-shaped recording medium of the present invention,

preparing a tape-shaped recording medium having an image receiving surface of a certain width and a non-image receiving surface of a prescribed width formed at least on one side of the image receiving surface,

The tape-shaped recording medium is conveyed along a conveying path passing through the printing position of the inkjet printhead,

Since the edge portion of the image-receiving surface adjacent to the non-image-receiving surface on the surface thereof is solidly ink-printed without gaps with respect to the tape-shaped recording medium passing through the printing position, the associated solid ink printing on said non-image receiving surface adjacent the edge portion of the image receiving surface,

By cutting the tape-shaped recording medium after solid ink printing along the boundary line between the image-receiving surface and the non-image-receiving surface in the longitudinal direction, a tape-shaped recording medium with recording borders is obtained. The recording medium has at least an image receiving surface on which the edge portion on the non-image receiving surface side is subjected to solid ink printing without gaps.

As the tape-shaped recording medium used in the present invention, the structure of the tape-shaped recording medium that can be adopted is that the surface is used as the image receiving layer of the image receiving surface and the non-image receiving surface, and the image is formed on this surface. An adhesive layer on the inner face of the receiver layer, and a release paper covering the adhesive layer. Generally, non-image receiving surfaces are formed at both ends.

If this tape-shaped recording medium is used, after printing, it can be attached to a desired place by peeling off the release paper, which is very convenient.

Here, a cutout can be formed at a boundary between the image receiving surface and the non-image receiving surface of the tape-shaped recording medium. Arranged in this way, after solid ink printing, only the part of the image receiving layer forming the image receiving surface is cut off from the part of the non-image receiving surface formed at one or both ends, because it can be used without Cutter etc. are carried, so it is convenient. In addition, only the portion of the image-receiving layer forming the image-receiving surface can be easily peeled off from the release paper by holding the cutout portion with fingers or the like.

It goes without saying that instead of such a cut, it is also possible to cut off the non-image receiving surface portion from the image receiving surface portion by cutting the tape-shaped recording medium with a cutter. For example, it is also possible to dispose the cutter on the downstream side in the conveying direction from the printing position of the inkjet print head, and use this notch to cut the tape-shaped recording medium with the print border.

In addition, it is preferable to form scales at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped recording medium on the non-image receiving surface. In this way, after printing, the user can accurately cut off the tape-shaped recording medium along the scale. The scale may be printed on the tape-shaped recording medium in advance, or may be printed by an inkjet print head according to a necessary method.

As a tape-shaped recording medium, the above-mentioned image-receiving layer used itself is a substitute for a wide-width tape-shaped recording medium having an image-receiving layer whose surface is the image-receiving surface, and is formed inside the image-receiving layer. The adhesive layer on the upper surface and the release paper covering the adhesive layer, on the side surface facing the adhesive layer in the release paper, an exposed surface that does not laminate the image receiving layer and the adhesive layer is formed , the exposed surface is used as the structure of the non-image receiving surface.

The present invention relates to a solid ink printing method for printing a tape-shaped recording medium, cutting it into a predetermined length, and obtaining a tape-shaped recording medium sheet of a certain length with printing borders without producing uninked parts at the front and rear ends . For this reason, in the method of the present invention, solid ink printing is performed from the moment before the cutting position or after the cutting position, and then, through the unnecessary solid ink parts before and after cutting, no uninked ink is formed on the front and rear ends after cutting. Part of the state of the solid ink print.

That is, in the method for printing on the tape-shaped recording medium of the present invention,

A tape-shaped recording medium having an image receiving surface of a certain width is prepared,

The tape-shaped recording medium is transported along a transport path passing through the printing position of the inkjet print head,

performing solid ink printing of a given length on the tape-shaped recording medium passing through the printing position,

The printed tape-shaped recording medium is cut in the width direction at a position closer to the upstream side in the conveying direction than the solid ink printing start position or at a position closer to the conveying direction downstream than the solid ink printing end position,

On the region of the cutting position, a certain length of tape-shaped recording medium with print borders is obtained for solid ink printing without gaps.

Here, the structure for cutting the printed tape-shaped recording medium is generally provided at a position downstream of the printing position in the transport direction. At this time, after the start position of solid ink printing attached to the strip-shaped recording medium with printing borders passes the cutting position, the strip-shaped recording medium is temporarily stopped, and then the strip-shaped recording medium is cut. If the stop moment of the tape-shaped recording medium required for this cutting is controlled, then it is possible to have the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped recording medium in the beginning end portion of the solid ink printing attached to the obtained tape-shaped recording medium sheet. The effect of adjusting the extent of ink application on the ground.

Similarly, at the time before the end position of the solid ink printing attached to the tape-shaped recording medium with printing borders passes through the cutting position, while temporarily stopping the tape-shaped recording medium and cutting it, as this If the conveying stop time of the tape-shaped recording medium required for cutting is adjusted, then it is possible to have a solid field in the length direction of the tape-shaped recording medium in the end portion of the solid ink printing attached to the obtained tape-shaped recording medium sheet. The effect of adjusting the ink application range.

In the method of the present invention as described above, the solid inked portions of the front and rear ends are cut off, resulting in a solid inked print having no uninked portions in the front and rear ends. Therefore, the consumption of the tape-shaped recording medium increases if only the front and rear end solid ink-coated portions are cut off. In particular, when continuous solid ink printing is performed, the amount of useless tape-shaped recording medium increases. In order to reduce the amount of this useless tape-shaped recording medium, after the first round of solid ink printing is completed, the tape-shaped recording medium is retreated, and the printing position is set to stay at the front end of the tape-shaped recording medium. between the solid-inked portions of the previous solid-inked print on the Afterwards, start the solid ink printing action of the second round, the result is that the remaining part of the solid ink printing of the first round overlaps with the part of the second round of solid ink printing, so in this way, it is possible to The useless portion of the tape-shaped recording medium is reduced.

In addition, if the start position of the solid ink printing of the second round is adjusted according to the width of the solid ink printing of the first round, the amount of useless tape can be further reduced.

In addition, the present invention relates to a tape-shaped recording medium suitable for the above-mentioned method of printing on a tape-shaped recording medium.

The first form of the tape-shaped recording medium of the present invention is a tape-shaped recording medium having an image-receiving surface of a certain width and a non-image-receiving surface of a given width formed at least on one end of the image-receiving surface, having a surface of An image-receiving layer of said image-receiving surface and said non-image-receiving surface, an adhesive layer formed on the inside of this image-receiving layer, and a release paper covering this adhesive layer. Generally, said non-image receiving surface is formed on both ends of said image receiving surface, respectively.

In the tape-shaped recording medium of this structure, it is feasible to adopt a structure in which only the image receiving surface portion can be simply cut off, and a slit is preliminarily formed on the boundary between the image receiving surface and the non-image receiving surface. of.

In addition, cutting the printed tape-shaped recording medium to a certain length means that the user can correctly cut it into a desired length, and it is preferable to form a tape facing the lengthwise direction of the tape-shaped recording medium on the above-mentioned non-image receiving surface. The ticks for the given interval.

The second form of the tape-shaped recording medium is a tape-shaped recording medium having an image-receiving surface of a certain width and a non-image-receiving surface of a given width formed at least on one end of the image-receiving surface, having a surface of the image receiving surface. An image receiving layer like a receiving surface, an adhesive layer formed on the inside of the image receiving layer, and a release paper covering the adhesive layer, and on the side surface facing the adhesive layer in the release paper A structure is formed in which the exposed surface of the image receiving layer and the adhesive layer is not laminated, and the exposed surface becomes the non-image receiving surface. In this case, it is also preferable to form a scale with a given gap in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped recording medium also on the non-image receiving surface.

When solid ink printing is performed on both ends of the tape-shaped recording medium without gaps, continuous solid ink printing is performed on the image-receiving surface and the non-image-receiving surface of the surface of the tape-shaped recording medium by the inkjet printing head. After invalid printing is carried out on the non-image receiving surface like this, if this non-image receiving surface part is cut off, then can obtain the image receiving surface that is made of the image receiving surface that is attached to the left and right ends without the solid ink printing of uninked part A tape-shaped recording medium with recording borders.

In addition, when the tape-shaped recording medium is cut to a given length after printing to obtain a tape-shaped recording medium of a given length with printed borders, when solid ink is applied on the front and rear ends without uninked portions, the solid land The start end of ink printing cuts the tape-shaped recording medium after passing the cutting position, and the end end of solid ink printing cuts the tape-shaped recording medium before passing the cutting position. As a result, the halfway positions of the solid ink-printed area filled without gaps became the front and rear ends of the obtained tape-shaped recording medium sheet. Thus, a solid ink-printed tape-shaped sheet of recording medium having no uninked portions attached to the front and rear ends can be obtained.

In addition, the tape-shaped recording medium of the present invention can be simply cut away from the central image-receiving surface portion that is solidly inked, ineffective, and located on one or both ends of the non-image-receiving surface portion. In addition, the scale is formed on the non-image receiving surface, and the user can accurately cut the tape-shaped recording medium with the print border along the scale, so it is convenient.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the appearance of an inkjet printer suitable for the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the printer section taken along line II-II in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the main part of the printer in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the state of the main parts of the printer viewed from the upper side of Fig. 3,

Figure 5 shows views of an example of a tape-shaped recording medium, (a) is a perspective view of its components, (b) is a cross-sectional view thereof, (c) is a partial plan view thereof,

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a control system of the inkjet printer in FIG. 1,

7 is a view showing another example of a tape-shaped recording medium, (a) being a partial perspective view thereof, (b) being a cross-sectional view thereof,

Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a mechanism for cutting both ends of a tape-shaped recording medium,

Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the printing operation of solid ink in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped recording medium,

Fig. 10 is an explanatory view showing the adjustment operation of adjusting the width of the tape-shaped recording medium in the longitudinal direction at the start end of solid ink printing,

Figure 11 is the same as Figure 10,

Fig. 12 is an explanatory view showing the adjustment operation of adjusting the width of the strip-shaped recording medium in the longitudinal direction at the end portion of solid ink printing,

Figure 13 is the same as Figure 12,

Fig. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the cutting operation of cutting a small amount of discarded tape in the continuous solid ink printing operation,

Fig. 15 is a comparison diagram showing the retraction amount of the strip-shaped recording medium when the next solid ink width form is set relative to the previous solid ink printing width form in the continuous solid ink printing action,

Fig. 16 is a partial perspective view showing another example of a tape-shaped recording medium,

Fig. 17 is a perspective view of a tape-shaped recording medium sheet illustrating an example in which graduations are formed on both ends of the tape-shaped recording medium.

Detailed ways

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(first embodiment)

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the appearance of an inkjet printer applicable to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1 . The inkjet printer 1 of this example is, for example, a form called a "label printer" or a "label word processor" that prints on the surface of a tape-shaped recording medium (hereinafter, simply referred to as "tape"). The recording medium has an adhesive layer coated on the inside to a release paper.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , the inkjet printer 1 has a thin rectangular parallelepiped housing 101 as a whole, and the upper half of the front side is an operation surface 102 . Various keys are arranged here, including a print button 103 for instructing a printing operation, a power button 104, and the like. The switch cover 105 is mounted on the rear half of the housing 101 . The switch cover 105 can be opened and closed centering on its rear end, and by pressing the cover switch button 106 provided on the operation surface 102, the lock can be released and opened.

When this cover 105 is opened, a mounting portion 23 of the tape cassette 3 described below is formed inside. Therefore, by opening this cover, the tape cassette 3 can be attached and detached. The cover 105 is provided with a transparent window 105a through which it can be confirmed whether the tape cassette 3 is installed. A liquid crystal display unit 107 for displaying character information and the like input through the keys of the operation panel 102 is provided adjacent to the cover 105 . In addition, a tape discharge port 101b is formed on the inner side end surface 101a of the casing 101, and the printed tape is discharged to the outside through this discharge port. The tape discharged therefrom is guided by the tape discharge guide 108 . In addition, a power supply unit 112, a battery 113 such as a Nikard battery, and the like are installed inside the housing 101 on the back side of the operation surface 102.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of main parts of the inkjet printer 1 housed in the casing 101 . In the figure, 2 is a base for loading various components, which is formed by the bottom surface of the casing 101 . On it are mounted a tape cassette 3, three ink tanks 4 (4c, 4m, 4y), and an ink jet type print head 5. As shown in FIG. The printing head 5 is attached to the carriage 6, and the carriage 6 is supported by a threaded rod 7 spanning between the left and right side walls 21, 22 of the base 2. The carriage 6 is supported in a non-rotatable state by a guide shaft (not shown) provided in parallel with the screw 7 so that it can move left and right (direction of the axis of the screw). Therefore, through the rotation of the screw rod 7, the carriage 6 and the printing head 5 attached thereto can reciprocate left and right. In the center of the moving range of the print head 5, a paper guide 8 opposite to the print head 5 is installed.

A head gap mechanism 9 is installed on the side of the side wall 22 opposite to the paper guide member 8. In the non-use state, the print head 5 is held in a closed state by the gap surface 91 of the gap mechanism 9. On the side of the cassette 3, an ink supply pump 11 is provided for manually forcibly supplying ink from the ink storage box 4 to the print head 5 before printing starts.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the main components of the inkjet printer 1 shown in FIG. 3 as viewed from above. The configuration of the main part of the inkjet printer 1 of this embodiment will also be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4 .

First, the tape cassette 3 has a case body 31 having a certain thickness, a mandrel 32 housed in the case body to rotate freely, and a tape T having a certain width _W1 wound on the outer periphery of the mandrel. The upper part of the front end face of box body 31 stretches out forward, and on this part, forms belt conveying part, and this belt conveying part is formed by the belt guide member 33 of PET film and presses this guide belt member with certain elastic force. The pinch roller 34 on the surface constitutes. The front end of the tape T is initially set to be sandwiched between the tape guide 33 and the pinch roller 34 . The support member 35 of the pinch roller 34 is supported on one side of the cassette body 31 by a coil spring 36 so as to be movable up and down relative to the tape guide 33 . This support member 35 is connected to a lever 37 . The lever 37 has a front end surface 37 a protruding outward from the upper surface of the case body 31 . When the front end surface 37a is pushed in, the pinch roller 34 presses against the tape guide 33 side in conjunction with this. Further, on the upper surface of the case body 31, six display portions 38 for displaying the T-width size of the built-in tape are formed.

A mounting portion 23 for mounting the tape cassette 3 configured in this way is formed on one side of the main body of the ink jet printer to which the tape cassette 3 constructed in this way is detachably mounted. In this mounting portion 23 , a tape feed roller 12 is provided at a position directly below the tape guide 33 which defines the tape feed portion of the tape cassette 3 . This roller 12 has a shape in which large-diameter portions and small-diameter portions are alternately formed. In addition, the switch cover 105 for attaching the tape cassette to the mounting portion 23 or removing the tape cassette from the mounting portion 23 as described above is attached directly above the tape cassette 3 .

As can be clearly seen from FIG. 2, the switch cover 105 is formed with a depressing portion 105b that can depress the front end surface 37a of the lever 37 protruding from the tape cassette when the cover is closed. In addition, a detecting portion 105c for detecting them is formed on the switch cover 105 facing the display portion 38 for displaying the tape size formed on the upper surface of the cassette body of the tape cassette 3 .

Next, the conveyance route of the tape T conveyed from the tape cassette 3 will be described. The tape T is conveyed by rotating the tape feed roller 12 . A plurality of tape guide sheets 13 formed of a PET film are provided in a state of being engaged with the outer periphery of the small-diameter portion of the tape feed roller 12 . By these tape guide pieces 13, the front end of the tape T is surely guided toward the front side in the conveying direction. On the front side of these belt guide pieces 13 in the conveying direction, a stainless steel belt guide 14 is provided. The tape T is guided toward the printing position by the tape guide 14 and the guide 15 opposite thereto. The printing position is defined by the print head 5 and the paper guide 8 facing it. The tape T passing through this printing position is press-fitted on the side of the guide 16 by the tape pinch roller 15, passes through the tape cutting position 17, and is conveyed to the outside from the tape discharge port 101b.

The driving force transmission system of the tape feed roller 12 and the carriage 6 on which the print head 5 is mounted will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , a tape feed motor 18 is mounted on the inner side of the side wall 22 of the base 2 . The motor output shaft 18a is connected to the end of the rotating shaft 121 of the tape feed roller 12 through a gear train 181 . In this embodiment, the gear train 181 has a power switching function, which enables the carriage 6 to move on the side wall 22, and switches the power transmission path when the protrusion 182 protruding inward from the side wall 22 is pressed down to switch the power transmission path. The power of motor 18 is transmitted to the structure of head intermittent mechanism 9 sides.

In addition, a head driving motor 19 is installed on the inner side of the other side wall 21 on the base. Its motor output shaft 19a links to each other with the end of screw mandrel 7 through the reduction mechanism 191 that is made of gear train.

The ink supply system basically consists of the ink storage box 4, three ink storage tubes 41 (41Y, 41M, 41C) that supply the ink in the ink box 4 to the print head 5 side, and the ink pump 11 that supplies ink manually. constitute. The three ink storage cartridges 4C, 4M, and 4Y respectively store cyan, magenta, and yellow inks, and color printing can be realized by using these inks.

Thus, in the inkjet printer 1 of this embodiment, the maximum width of the tape T that can be mounted is set to W(max) as shown in FIG. 4 . Therefore, the printable range W(p) in the swath direction (moving direction of the print head 5) by the print head 5 is slightly narrower than the left and right range of the maximum swath W(max). Therefore, in the case of the illustrated embodiment, since the loaded tape width is W ₁ , the printable range by the print head 5 is set to a range W(P _{1 ) slightly narrower than W 1 .}

The tape width contained in the tape cassette 3 can be detected by reading the six display portions 38 provided on the upper surface of the cassette body 31 . For example, the tape size may be displayed by whether the holes on the display portions 38 are open, and whether the holes of these display portions are open is detected by a mechanical detector or an optical detector constituting the detection portion 105C on the inkjet printer side.

(structure with T)

As shown in Figure 5, the tape T supplied by the tape cassette 3 of this embodiment is composed of an image receiving layer 301 on one side of the surface, an adhesive layer 302 formed on the back side of this layer, and a peelable state. The release paper 303 covered on the adhesive layer 302 has a three-layer structure. The image receiving layer 301 on the surface side has at its center an image receiving portion 312 with an image receiving surface 311 that actually performs printing and an image receiving portion 312 with the same width formed on the left and right sides of the image receiving portion. Useless portions 313, 314 of non-image receiving surfaces 313a, 314a. In this embodiment, cutout lines 315, 316 are formed in advance on the boundary between the image portion 312 and the left and right useless portions. These incision lines 315, 316 extend from the surface of the useless part to the adhesive layer 302 on the inner side. Thus, the image receiving portion 312 can be removed only by cutting off the left and right useless portions. As shown in the figure, the width of the image receiving portion 312 is set to Wa, and the widths of the left and right useless portions 313, 314 are set to Wb. Generally, the width of the tape T used is 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 mm, etc., so the width of the image receiving surface 311 is set to these values. In this case, the non-image receiving surfaces 313a, 314a may generally have a width of 0.5 to 5 mm.

Thereby, form non-image receiving surface 313a, 314a on both sides, and when their amplitude is fixed as the same value W _b , the full width W of band _T is the image receiving surface size W _a (6,9,12,18 , 24 mm, etc.) + 2 x (non-image receiving surface size Wb) (about 0.5 to 5 mm). When the size of the left and right non-image receiving surfaces is different, when the amplitude of the non-image receiving surface 313a on one side is defined as W _b , and the amplitude of the non-image receiving surface 314a on the other side is defined as W _c , the full width of the band T W ₁ is W _a +W _b +W _c . Thus, the non-image receiving surfaces formed on both sides of the image receiving surface 313 can be replaced with those formed on only one side. In this case, the full width W ₁ with T can be either W _a + W _b or W _a + W _c .

As the image receiving layer 301, for example, a recording sheet having a structure disclosed in JP-A-4-115984 and 4-115985 can be used. The structure of this recording paper is a layer composed of pseudo-boehmite formed by hydrolysis of aluminate as the main component formed on a transparent substrate, and a porous silica-based layer is formed on this layer. Layers of ingredients. A recording sheet of this structure is suitable for printing by an inkjet printer using a multi-solvent ink. Needless to say, an image receiving layer other than this structure may also be used.

(Configuration of control system)

FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of the control system of the inkjet printer 1 of this embodiment. 100 in the figure is a control loop formed by a microcomputer. An input unit 110 composed of a group of keys provided on the operation panel 102 of the inkjet printer 1 is connected to the input. The output side of the control circuit 100 is connected to a display unit 107 such as a liquid crystal display device for various displays, a printer controller 140 for controlling the printing operation of the print head 5, and motor drivers 150 and 160 for driving and controlling the motors 18 and 19. According to the control program pre-stored in the ROM of the control circuit 100, under the control of the control circuit 100, the printable range corresponding to the band width accommodated in the installed tape cassette 3 is set, and the following Solid ink printing and other actions.

(solid ink printing action in the web direction)

The printing operation of applying ink for the entire width of the tape T by the inkjet printer 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

As shown in Fig. 5 (C), the printing range at this time is set to be wider than the width W _a of the image receiving surface 311 as the image receiving part 312 of the band printing width, and is wider than adding the left and right useless parts 313 The range W(P ₁ ) of the full width W ₁ of the band after the width of the non-image receiving surfaces 313a, 314a of , 314 is narrow.

By driving the motor 18 and rotating the tape feed roller 12, the tape T is output from the tape cassette 3 and conveyed to the printing position of the inkjet print head. The screw 7 is rotated by the action of the motor 19 simultaneously with the conveying operation of the tape T, thereby moving the printing head 5 via the carriage 6 .

As shown in Figure 5 (C), the printing head 5 is moved along the direction shown by the arrow A in the figure, after passing through the edge _T1 of the belt T conveyed on the printing position, from the front of the non-image receiving surface 313a through this Printing starts at time _T2 . In addition, the end time of the moving printing is the time before passing the other edge _T4 of the tape T, and is the time _T3 when passing the non-image surface 314a.

After the printing is finished, the conveyance of the tape is continued until the rear end of the printed image adhering to the tape T reaches the tape cutting position 17 . After that, the conveyance of the belt is temporarily stopped. Like this, the carriage 6 that is loaded with printing head 5 moves along the direction of arrow B, when returning to the end as shown in Figure 4, drives the rotary cutter 61 that is contained on the carriage 6, and in this state , the carriage 6 moves in the direction of arrow A. As a result, the tape T becomes a tape piece cut to a certain length and discharged to the outside. As described above, only the image receiving portion 312 is removed from here, and can be attached to a desired portion. In this example, since it is formed on the incision lines 315, 316, there is an advantage that the image receiving portion 312 can be easily peeled off by hooking a fingertip or the like on the edges of the incision lines 315, 316.

In this way, in the inkjet printer 1 of the present embodiment, starting from both ends of the image receiving surface 311 of the transported tape T, solid coating is also performed on the non-image receiving surfaces 313a, 314a connected to these two sides. Ink printing (invalid printing). In this sense, the image receiving surface 311 may be referred to as a first image receiving surface, and the non-image receiving surfaces 313a, 314a may be referred to as a second image receiving surface. Thus, both ends of the image receiving surface 311 become a state of full ink printing without uninking. Therefore, if only the image-receiving portion 312 having the image-receiving surface 311 is peeled off after printing, a fully ink-printed label formed at both ends without uninking can be obtained.

Thereafter, the roller 12 is reversed by the motor 18, and the front end of the tape T is returned to, for example, the front of the printing position. In addition, the carriage 6 moves all the way onto the other side wall 22 and presses the protrusion 182 to the outside by its side. In this way, the connection between the motor 18 and the tape feed roller 12 is cut off, and the roller 12 stops rotating. An alternative way is to drive the intermittent mechanism 9 to form an intermittent state on the print head 5 .

In order to replace the tape cassette 3, when the switch cover 105 covered on the tape cassette mounting part 23 is opened, the tape T positioned at the front end is wound before the printing position, and the front end is pressed against the pressure of the tape draw-out part in the prescribed tape cassette. Return between the roller 34 and the belt guide 33 .

(Modified example with T)

Here, the tape T other than the said structure can be used. Representative examples thereof will be described below.

The release paper 323 in the tape T10 shown in FIG. 7 has a width W ₁ , but the image receiving layer 321 and the adhesive layer 322 on it have a width W _a narrower than its width. Therefore, in the tape T10 of this embodiment, the non-image surfaces 334, 335 corresponding to the non-image surfaces 313a, 314a in the above-mentioned embodiment are formed on the left and right exposed surface portions of the release paper 323.

When such a tape T is used, full ink printing in the width direction is also performed in the same manner as described above. Ink droplets discharged by ineffective printing at portions exceeding the width of the image receiving surface 321a of the image receiving layer 321 are caught by the non-image receiving surfaces 334, 335 on both sides of the release paper 323. It is preferable that ink droplets of these ineffective printing do not adhere to the surrounding parts, and the left and right non-image receiving surfaces 334, 335 become surfaces capable of absorbing ink droplets.

Another configuration of tape T20 is shown in FIG. 8 . The tape T20 of this example is a conventional tape, and it has a three-layer structure in which an image receiving layer 341, an adhesive layer 342, and a release paper 343 of the same width are laminated in sequence from the front side of the tape. In the case of using such a general tape, a pair of cutters 356, 357 are provided for separating the image receiving portion 353 which becomes the central image receiving surface 353a (may be referred to as the first image receiving surface) from the left and right invalid. The ineffective portion 354, 355 of the printed non-image receiving surface 354a, 355a (which may be referred to as a second image receiving surface) is cut off, and it is arranged further than the cutter 61 for cutting the tape in the width direction of the tape. It is more preferable to add notch lines 345, 346 to the image receiving layer 341 at the upstream side in the conveying direction of the tape.

Even in this case, as described above, the non-image receiving surface can employ a band formed only on the image receiving surface 353a side. When using a tape that forms a non-image receiving surface only on one side, instead of a pair of cutters 356, 357 shown in FIG. The non-image-receiving surface formed on one side is preferred.

(solid ink printing action with long direction)

Next, the inkjet printer 1 of the present embodiment will roughly describe the full ink printing operation with respect to the front and rear ends in the tape longitudinal direction with reference to FIG. 9 .

In this embodiment, when the full ink printing in the tape length direction is specified, as the printing range in the tape length direction, drive control is started from a position on the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the position _P1 where actual full ink printing starts. Full ink printing. That is, printing is started from the printing start position _P0 in the figure. In addition, the drive control for solid ink printing is continued until the position on the upstream side in the conveyance direction from the position _P2 at which the actual solid ink printing has ended. That is, the solid ink printing is continued until the printing end position _P3 in the figure.

In the image receiving surface 311 of the band T carrying out this full ink printing, in addition to the required full ink printing length area A represented by the network line in the figure, a print start of a given width is also formed before and after it. The solid inked area B on the side and the solid inked area C on the printed side. These areas are indicated by slashes. Needless to say, in this embodiment, since solid ink printing is also performed on portions beyond both sides of the image receiving surface as described above, these portions are also indicated by oblique lines.

The conveyance of the tape T after printing is stopped when the printing start position _P1 reaches the cutting position 17 where the rotary cutter 61 operates. Then, the rotary cutter 61 is driven, and the tape T is cut at its solid inking print start position _P1 . Since this part is closer to the upstream side in the conveying direction than the position _P0 at which ink printing is actually started, this part can be cut at the halfway position of solid ink application, and therefore, the leading edge portion of the cut tape T becomes free of uncoated ink. The fully solid inked condition of the inked portion.

After cutting, the conveyance of the tape T is carried out again, and the conveyance is continued until the surface solid ink printing end position _P2 reaches the cutting position. Once this position _P2 reaches the cutting position, the conveyance is temporarily stopped again, and the rotary cutter 61 is driven to cut the tape T. This cutting position is also the same as the above-mentioned front end, because it is in the middle of the solid ink, so the edge portion of this cut becomes a completely solid ink state without an uninked portion.

Therefore, in such a tape piece of a certain length obtained by cutting the front and rear ends, the front and rear ends of the image receiving surface 311 become solidly inked with no uninked portion.

In the above description, the feeding of the tape T is stopped and cut after the solid ink printing is completed. However, if the length of the solid ink is long, the distance between the printing position and the cutting position of the tape will also increase. In the case of a long solid ink length, an alternative method may be to move the tape T back after the solid ink printing is completed. , cut off its front end, and then advance the belt to cut off its rear end, thereby controlling the conveyance. Or, it is preferable to stop printing and conveying at the same time when the solid ink printing start position _P1 passes the cutting position to cut off the tape, and then perform the printing and conveying operations again to advance the tape after printing, to cut off the rear end.

(With the adjustment action of the solid ink width in the longitudinal direction)

Next, in the inkjet printer 1 of this embodiment, the width of the solid ink printing at the front and rear ends in the tape length direction (the length of the solid ink printing portion in the tape length direction) is adjusted as follows. For example, as a printing form, a border line of solid ink printing is produced, and blank dot characters may be formed in this border line, and in this case, it is desirable to be able to adjust the width of the solid ink printing border line.

In view of this, in this embodiment, through keyboard input, the front end solid ink printing width in the longitudinal direction can be designated as three types: wide wide form, common width common width form and narrow narrow width form. .

As shown in FIG. 10 , from the start position of the printing on the tape conveying direction performed by the print head 5 in this embodiment, that is, from the plurality of ink ejection holes arranged on the print head 5 and arranged in the tape conveying direction In 5A, the distance from the ink ejection hole 5 a located at the forefront in the transport direction to the cutting position 61 a of the rotary cutter 61 is set to Y ₁ (m). In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, when specifying the wide format _M1 , a position shifted sideways by a distance _X1 (m) from the start position _P0 of solid ink printing in the conveyance direction is specified as the cutting position _C1. . Correspondingly, when specifying the common format _M2 , the position shifted upstream from the starting position _P0 of solid ink printing by _X2 (> _X1 ) is taken as the cutting position _C2 . In the case of _M3 , the position shifted upstream by X ₃ (>X ₂ ) in the transport direction from the start position P ₀ of solid ink printing is taken as the cutting position C ₃ . In addition, in the case of this embodiment, of course, the distance _Y1 is set to be longer than the distance _X3 to the cutting position _C3 .

In fact, the distance to each of the above-mentioned cutting positions is controlled by the printing speed of the print head 5, that is, V (m/s) which is the transport speed of the tape T, and the continuous printing time or transport time from the printing start position 5a. . That is, when the wide format _M1 is specified, after [(Y ₁ +X ₁ )/V] seconds elapse from the printing start time, the tape feeding is temporarily stopped, and the tape T is cut by the rotary cutter 61 . Similarly, in the case of the normal format M ₂ , the tape T is cut after [(Y ₁ +X ₂ )/V] seconds, and in the case of the narrow format M ₃ , after [(Y ₁ +X ₃ / After V] seconds, the tape T is cut off.

As a result, as shown in Fig. 11, in the wide form _M1 , a narrow solid ink printed portion was cut out, in the narrow form _M3 a wide solid ink printed portion was cut, and in the normal form In M ₂ , cut off this medium wide section. In this way, since there are fewer cutouts in the wide format _M1 , a wide solid ink border is obtained at the front end. Likewise, in the normal format _M2, a solid ink border of the normal width is obtained at the leading end, while a solid ink border of the narrow width is obtained at the leading end in the narrow format _M3 .

As mentioned above, in this embodiment, the cutting time of the cutting tape is controlled after the start position of the solid ink printing passes the cutting position, so that the width of the solid ink printing edge at the front end side of the solid ink printing can be adjusted.

When setting the swath form as above, the solid ink printing swath at the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the swath is also set to the same width as will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 12, from the start position of the printing on the tape conveying direction performed by the print head 5 of this embodiment, that is, from the plurality of ink ejection holes arranged on the print head 5 in the conveying direction of the tape The distance from the ink ejection hole 5b at the rear end in the transport direction to the cutting position 61a of the rotary cutter 61 is y2 (m). Also, as shown in FIG. 13 , when specifying the wide format _M1 , a position shifted downstream by _X1 (m) in the transport direction from the end position _P3 of solid ink printing is specified as the cutting position _C11 . Correspondingly, when the common format _M2 is specified, the position shifted from the final position _P3 of solid ink printing to the downstream side of the conveying direction for a distance of _X2 (> _X1 ) is taken as the cutting position _C12 , and when When the narrow format _M3 is specified, the position shifted downstream by _X3 (> _X2 ) in the transport direction from the end position _P3 of solid ink printing is taken as the cutting position _C13 . In addition, in the case of this embodiment, of course, the distance _Y2 is set to be longer than the distance _X3 to the cutting position _C3 .

Even in this case, the distance to each of the above-mentioned cutting positions is determined by the printing speed of the print head 5, that is, V (m/s) as the transport speed of the tape T, and the continuous printing time or transport time from the printing start position 5b. be controlled. That is, when the wide format _M1 is specified, after [(Y ₂ -X ₁ /V)] seconds elapse from the printing start time, the tape feeding is temporarily stopped, and the tape T is cut by the rotary cutter 61 . Similarly, in the normal width form M ₂ , cut the _tape T after [(Y ₂ -X ₂ )/V] _{seconds ;} ] seconds later, cut off the tape T.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 13, in the wide format _M1 , a narrow solid ink printed portion was cut out, in the narrow format _M3 a wide solid ink printed portion was cut, and in the normal format Cut out this medium wide section in M ₂ . In this way, since there are fewer parts cut out in the wide _M1 , a wide solid ink border line is obtained at the rear end. Likewise, in the normal format _M2 , a normal solid inked border is obtained at the rear end; while in the narrow format _M3 , a narrow solid inked border is obtained at the rear end.

As described above, in this embodiment, the width of the solid ink printing side line at the end side of the solid ink printing can be adjusted by controlling the cutting time of the tape before the cutting position according to the end position of the solid ink printing.

(Continuous solid ink printing action)

On the front end portion of the tape T after the rear end portion has been cut as described above, X ₁ solid inked portion in the wide format M ₁ and X ₂ solid inked portions in the normal format M ₂ , and in the narrow format _M3, the solid ink part of the X ₃ width becomes a residual state. Thereafter, when returning to the solid ink printing operation as described above, the retraction amount of the tape T is set as follows. First, after printing in the wide format _M1 , the retraction amount L is set by the following equation.

L＝Y ₁ -X ₁ +X ₀

Here, _X0 is shorter than _X1 . Also, when specifying the normal width format _M2 , the amount of retreat of the tape is determined by the following formula.

L＝Y ₁ -X ₂ +X ₀

Likewise, when specifying the narrow format _M3 , the tape retreat amount is determined by the following formula.

L＝Y ₁ -X ₃ +X ₀

As shown in FIG. 14 , when the retreat amount of the belt is set in this way, the next solid ink printing action is started only when the length portion of _X0 overlaps with the last solid ink printing part. Therefore, compared with the situation of starting the next solid ink application from the more rear side of the end _P4 of the last solid ink application, only the length of _X0 can make the next solid ink printing operation cut off discarded. The amount of belt becomes the minimum.

In this way, when the solid ink printing operation is performed continuously, if the amount of tape retreat is determined according to the tape format set in the previous solid ink printing operation, the amount of discarded tape can be further reduced.

FIG. 15 shows at a glance which tape retreat amount is determined with respect to the tape format in the previous solid ink printing operation. In the figure, _X10 is a length shorter than _X1 , _X20 is a length shorter than _X2 , and _X30 is a length shorter than _X3 . If the tape is retracted by the amount shown in the figure to start the next solid ink printing operation, the advantage is that the amount of waste tape cut off at the front end of the tape is extremely small.

(Other examples of straps)

Fig. 16 shows other examples of belts usable in this embodiment. The basic structure of this tape _T30 is the same as that of the tape _T10 shown in FIG. 7 . Also, the parts corresponding to the parts of the tape _T10 in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same symbols, and their descriptions are omitted here. The tape T ₃₀ in this embodiment is characterized in that the non-image-receiving surfaces 334, 335 at both ends of the tape are formed with graduated marks 381, 382 spaced along the length of the tape.

The advantage of this tape _T30 is that when the width of the front and rear solid ink printing edges of the solid ink printing is set to be wrong as described above, it can also be formed on the front and rear ends of a width different from the desired width. Solid ink borders. At this time, it is preferable for the user to cut off the front and rear with pliers or the like. However, it is difficult to cut at a true right angle along the length to be cut, so it is necessary to use a ruler. In addition, it is also difficult to cut with a ruler or the like without measuring marks when cutting the solid ink printing borders at the front and rear ends to have the same width.

However, in the tape _T30 of this embodiment, since there are scales 381, 382 at both ends of the tape, if this is taken as a standard and cut with pliers, the front and rear can be cut accurately even without a ruler or the like. end.

In addition, this scale can be pre-engraved on the tape, for example, it can be formed by using the print head 5 to perform corresponding necessary printing.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 17, on the front and rear ends of the solid ink printing, the user desires to select correspondingly wide, normal, and narrow solid ink printing borders, and with this It is ideal to print the cutting position correspondingly.

(Other examples with

In the above description, an example using what is called a tape for a label, in which an adhesive layer and a release paper are adhered to the back as a tape, has been described. However, it goes without saying that the present invention is also applicable to the case of using a normal tape-shaped recording medium without an adhesive layer or release paper.

As mentioned above, in the present invention, on the surface of the tape-shaped recording medium having a predetermined width, the part narrower than the width is used as the actual image receiving surface, and the part connected to the side is used as the actual image receiving surface. Non-image-receiving side for which invalid printing is performed. In the solid ink printing operation, the relevant solid ink printing is performed from the end of the image receiving surface to the non-image receiving surface on the outer side in the width direction. Therefore, after solid ink printing, if the non-image-receiving surface portion on the side is cut off, it is possible to simply obtain a non-gap, full-filled solid ink print on the side edge. Sideline recording media.

The present invention is formed in such a way that the printed tape-shaped recording medium is cut to a predetermined length, and when obtaining a tape-shaped recording medium with a printing edge of a certain length, due to the relative front and rear ends, no unsatisfactory The solid ink printing of the inked part, so the solid ink printing is performed from the time before or after the cutting position, and after that, the part that is not to be solidly inked before and after cutting will be printed on the cut The state of full-filled solid ink printing is formed on the front and rear ends.

In this way, the positions in the middle of the solid ink printing area filled without gaps are the front and rear ends of the tape-shaped recording medium sheet to be obtained. Thus, a tape-shaped sheet of recording medium with no uninked solid ink printing attached can be obtained on the front and rear ends.

Here, the present invention has the advantage of being able to vary the width of solid ink printing borders formed at the front and rear ends by controlling the front and rear cutting positions of the solid ink printed tape-shaped recording medium.

In the method of the present invention, the amount of ineffective tape can be minimized since the cutting amount of the solid ink portion at the front and rear ends is minimized.

In addition, in the tape-shaped recording medium used in the present invention, the non-image-receiving surface portion and the image-receiving surface portion of the solid ink ineffective printing can be easily cut off. In addition, scales are formed on the non-image receiving surface, so that the user can easily and correctly cut the tape-shaped recording medium sheet with printed borders along the scales.

Claims (5)

1. A printer for printing on a tape-shaped printing medium having an image-receiving surface of a given width and a non-image-receiving surface formed on at least one side of the image-receiving surface, the Printers include: Print Head; a conveying mechanism for conveying the tape-shaped printing medium along a conveying path passing through the printing position defined by the print head; A cutter for cutting off the ribbon-shaped printing medium; Wherein, the printing head performs solid ink printing on the tape-shaped printing medium passing through the printing position, so that the solid ink printing is overlapped on the edge portion of the image receiving surface and the non-image receiving surface to adjoin in the image receiving surface. The edge portion of the non-image-receiving surface is solidly printed with ink, and the strip-shaped printing medium is cut off by the cutter along the boundary line between the image-receiving surface and the non-image-receiving surface to obtain at least non-image-receiving surface edge portion. Printed strip print media for interstitial solid ink printing. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the cutter is positioned at the downstream of the printing position, and is used to cut off the printed tape-shaped printing medium, along the boundary line between the image receiving surface and the non-image receiving surface Cut off. 3. A printer for printing on a print medium having a first image receiving surface and a second image receiving surface, comprising: Print Head; A cutter for cutting the print media; Wherein the printing head prints the printing medium to form a solid coating across the boundary line of the first image receiving surface and the second image receiving surface, and the cutter cuts along the boundary line. 4. A printer for printing on a print medium having a first image receiving surface and a second image receiving surface, comprising: Print Head; a cutter for severing the print media transversely to provide a length of print media; Wherein the printhead prints the print media to form a solid coating across the boundary line of the first image receiving surface and the second image receiving surface. 5. The printer according to claim 4, further comprising a conveying mechanism for conveying the printing medium, the conveying mechanism repositions the printing medium before cutting, so that the cutting is performed in the printing area of the printing medium.

Images